Finished: We Have Always Lived In A Castle (Jackson) Eighteen year old Mary Katherine (Merricat) to her family, her twenty-something sister, Constance, and their Uncle Julian live in Blackwood, one of the old family estates in a small village. Six  years earlier the Blackwoods were one of the rich, upper echelon of the village with a massive estate and prestige. Until, one night the entire family was poisoned at dinner...the father, the mother, the aunt, the uncle and the 10 year old brother. The entire family died of arsenic poisoning, except for Uncle Julian, who didn't get enough of the poison, eldest daughter Constance, who cooked all the meals for the family and 12 year old Merricat, who'd been sent to bed without dinner for acting up. Six years later Merricat and Constance are town pariahs. Constance had been immediately arrested and tried, but found innocent of killing her family. Even though found innocent, though, the people of the village were all convinced she'd done it. Constance remained a recluse at home, her only joys working in her vast garden and cooking all the meals for their now small family of three. This left Merricat to walk into town once a week for the groceries and errands where she was mercilessly bullied by the children AND the adults of the town. It's truly very shameful the way all the adults treat her and other adults just laugh. No one stickes up for her. Merricat bravely makes this trip every week so that Constance doesn't have to go and face anyone in town. Merricat is very strange, with a wild imagination, beliefs that she can protect the boundaries of their home by burying different things in the ground, and she's very attached to Constance. When a cousin, Charles, comes knocking on the door, their very structured, odd existence is thrown completely out of whack, with dire consequences. And, we find out who poisoned the family. This was such an eerie book, but I couldn't put it down. I had to keep reading to see what would happen next, and when it was over, I wanted to know the backstory of what led up to the poisoning!! 

 Finished: Peter the Great (Massie) The Pulitzer Prize winning story of  Russian tsar, Peter the Great. My son gave me this 850+ page non-fiction beast several months ago and I have been reading it in between all the other books I've read, i.e., the fast reads, as this one is definitely a slow going read in order to take in all the facts, details, history, etc. It is fascinating and I've loved reading it, but so glad to be done. :-) I wouldn't even attempt to recap it, so just going to include the Amazon blurb here. 

"Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, crowned co-tsar at the age of ten. The acclaimed author of Catherine the Great, Robert K. Massie delves deep into the life of this captivating historical figure, chronicling the pivotal events that shaped a boy into a legend—including his “incognito” travels in Europe, his unquenchable curiosity about Western ways, his obsession with the sea and establishment of the stupendous Russian navy, his creation of an unbeatable army, his transformation of Russia, and his relationships with those he loved most: Catherine, the robust yet gentle peasant, his loving mistress, wife, and successor; and Menshikov, the charming, bold, unscrupulous prince who rose to wealth and power through Peter’s friendship. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, tender and unforgiving, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life."

 Finished: Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone (Gabaldon). The ninth book in the Outlander series, which is one of my favorites, with my favorite book couple, Claire and Jamie! It was so very good to read this book after a seven year wait. I love that Jamie and Claire are still essential, busy, feisty, and each other's soul mates as they move towards their 60's (well, Claire is IN her 60's). From Claire's doctoring, to Jamie's being the "laird" of Fraser's Ridge and building their house and caring for his people, to Claire's gardening and beehives, to the impending battle of the American Revolution in North Carolina in which Jamie will have to fight, they remain the heart and soul of Outlander. Of course their lives and stories are intertwined with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children, Jemmy, Mandy, and now wee Davey. :-) And, with their adopted son, Fergus, his wife, Marsali, and their five children. And, my third favorite character after Claire and Jamie, young Ian, and his wife, Rachel, and baby boy. And, Jamie's sister Jenny from Scotland who now lives with Ian's family on the ridge since her own husband, big Ian, died in the last book. And, Jamie's bastard son, William, who was raised as a British lord by Lord John Grey so that he could ostensibly have a better life than that with a father who'd been a Jacobite traitor. Of course, William found out in the last book that Jamie was his real father (fathered when Claire was back in the present time and thought Jamie was dead, and he thought she was gone from him forever.) William is slowly coming to terms with Jamie being his father, and came to him for help in the last book because he knew he could count on him. In this book, we get to see the blossoming sibling relationship between Brianna and William when they meet up in Savannah and I love it! You can tell they will be protective of each other. SPOILERS AHEAD SO STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE END OF BEES!! It's nice to see that William is also forgiving John Grey for deceiving him all these years. John Grey is actually kidnapped by an evil man in the current book and at the end we're left wondering what his fate will be. After a deadly battle towards the end of the book, in which Claire uses her all her strength to mend a near fatally wounded Jamie and bring him back to life, Jamie and Claire are on the porch of the big house on Fraser's Ridge with Bree, Roger, Ian, Rachel and many of the grandchildren all around when a horse comes tearing down the path and stops right at the edge of the porch. It's William!! He looks out of breath and panicked as he says to Jamie, "Sir, I need your help!" and that's where the book ends. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I hope it's not another seven years before Diana Galbadon publishes the tenth book, which is supposed to be the last in the series. You just know that Jamie will go to help William, though, no questions asked, most likely with Claire by his side. :-) <3